Participants in Guns Across America flocked to the Capitol building in Austin to protest gun control legislation Jan. 19. Reorganized as Gun Rights Across America, the group is planning an “informal gathering” in The Woodlands July 20 to unite gun rights advocates.

Eric Reed, founder of Gun Rights Across America, and Shannon Montague, the groups vice president, speak at a Second Amendment rally in Austin Jan. 19. GRAA is planning an “informal gathering” in The Woodlands July 20 to unite gun rights advocates.

Eric Reed, a commercial airline pilot from the north Houston area, hopes to fight what he said are “Second Amendment infringements” by organizing gun rights advocates in all 50 states.

He and about 80 state organizers of Gun Rights Across America, a grassroots network aimed at promoting the Second Amendment, are planning “informal gatherings” in or near the largest cities of each state, Reed said.

Texas’ gathering will be at Cranebrook Park in The Woodlands at 12:30 p.m. July 20.

He said gun rights advocates are less united than their portrayals in the media suggest. He has planned these events so they can get to know each other.

“All these pro-Second Amendment groups are worried about their own agendas,” he said. “Together, we would be a lot more effective.”

Gun Rights Across America is a continuation of Guns Across America, a nation-wide rally against gun control legislation that took place at the capitals of every state but Alaska in January. The Associated Press estimated that more than 800 participants attended the rally in Austin.

Reed said the idea struck him while lying in bed Dec. 14, the day of the mass killing in Newtown, Conn. Having listened to President Barack Obama address the nation on gun control, Reed said he “had an epiphany.”

“We all wept for those children,” he said. “But for the president to use it as a political tool, that’s just wrong.”

He launched the Facebook group shortly afterward and started planning the rallies. The group has organized rallies in Austin, Philadelphia and other cities in the months since.

Reed said GRAA doesn’t have any official membership rolls or qualifications, but the group’s Facebook page has received more than 32,000 likes, and its 50 other pages dedicated to state chapters have received more than 66,000 likes combined.

Reed said he invited the “heavy hitters” of gun rights advocacy, namely the National Rifle Association, the Gun Owners Association and the National Association for Gun Rights, to attend his rallies.

The NRA and GOA did not immediately respond to interview requests, but NAGR Executive Vice President Dudley Brown said he had been in contact with Reed but his organization would not officially attend any of the rallies.

“I have to decide whether our goals and strategies are compatible before working together. In this case with GRAA, I can’t say they are, so we declined,” Dudley said.